Tinting device adapter



June 8, 1965 J, KERR 3,187,787

TINTING DEVICE ADAPTER Filed May 17, 1962 INVENTOR. lea/fiery cf. fii'fawr 3,187,787 TINTING DEVICE ADAPTER Robert 3. Kerr, 563 Eton Drive, North Barringtcn, Ill. Filed May 17, 1962, Ser. No. 195,447 1 (Iiaim. (Cl. 141-348) The present invention relates to an apparatus for tinting of coating compositions, particularly paints.

The present day practice in paint merchandising is directed toward individual blending and tinting for the consumer, rather than the practice of maintaining an inventory of pro-mixed colors. Under present practice, therefore, the paint supplier maintains a substantial inventory of only the white base paint and provides tinting to the customers requirements through the use of tinting pastes of various colors. With this system, not only is the inventory which the paint dealer is required to keep out down substantially, but the customer is provided with a much wider selection of colors than has heretofore been available to him.

While custom mixing of paints is widely practiced in paint merchandising, to my knowledge there has been no really satisfactory means for accomplishing the same results with paints which are supplied in the form of aerosols. The provision of a suitable apparatus for tinting paints contained in aerosol containers is therefore the principal object of the present invention.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adapter for a tinting paste injecting mechanism which will enable the mechanism to be used in conjunction with aerosol containers.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adapter for tinting paste dispensers which injects a metered quantity of the tinting paste irlto an aerosol container without loss of paint or propellant from the container.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation of a tinting gun moditied in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, substantially enlarged, illustrating the manner in which the adapter assembly of the present invention cooperates with the aerosol container to inject the tinting paste therein; and

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the adapter shown in FIGURE 2.

As shown in the drawings:

On FIGURE 1, reference numeral It indicates generally a tinting gun of the type commercially available for injecting a tinting paste into paint containers. The tinting gun It) includes a cylindrical barrel 11 in which one or more pistons 12 are arranged to reciprocate. A sleeve -13 connected to the piston 12 is arranged to slide between a stop 14 provided on the barrel II and an adjustably positionable sleeve 16. A locking pin 17 is provided to limit the travel of the sleeve I3, and an underlying scale 18 indicates the specific quantities of the materials which are to be injected. In normal operation, therefore, the sleeve 16 is positioned over the scale 18 at the position on the scale which indicates the quantity desired to be injected. This position is then maintained by locking the locking pin 17 against the barrel 11. The sleeve 13 is then moved upwardly until it engages the sleeve 16 at which time the cylinder portion 19 (FIG- URE 2) of the barrel 11 will be filled with the appropriate amount of tinting material.

In accordance with the present invention, I add an adapter, generally indicated at numeral 21 in FIGURE 1 3,137,717 Fatented June 8, 1%65 which permits utilization of this type of injecting gun into an aerosol container. As best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3 the adapter includes a cylindrical body portion 22 which is formed with a relieved annular portion 23 thereby a centrally disposed collar 24. The collar 24 is arranged to be received snugly within the end of the barrel II, and the relieved annular portion 23 provides a seat for receiving the end of the barrel 11.

At the opposite end, the body member 22 is provided with an annular portion 26 which is arranged to be bottomed against a rim 27 of an aerosol can generally indicated at numeral 23 in the drawings. The aerosol can 28 is of conventional design, including a shell 29 and a mounting cover 31 having a peripheral flan e portion joined to a corresponding peripheral flange portion of the shell 29 by rolling the two together to form the rim Z7.

Disposed within the mounting cover 31 is an eyelet 32 which carries a crimped nipple 33 for receiving a conventional polyethylene tube (not shown) which extends to the bottom of the can. Inside the eyelet 52 there is disposed a coiled spring 34 on which rides a valve element as. In the closed position of the device, the valve element 36 extends through and in sealing relation with a gasket 37 confined between the mounting cover 3]. and the eyelet 32.

The valved aerosol dispenser is opened in accordance with the present invention by providing a protuberance 38 having a frusto-conical portion 39 extending below the plane of the annular seating face 26. The frustoconical portion 39 terminates in a fiat valve operating portion 41 which is arranged to engage an abutment 42 carried by the valve member 36. The body member 21 also is provided with an auxiliary inwardly extending channel 43 intermediate thte annular sealing portion 2-6 and the protuberance 38.

The body portion 22 has formed therein an axially extending bore 44 which extends from the region of the frusto-conical portion 39 through the body member 2.2 and through the collar 24- to communicate with the cylinder 19.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the axially extending bore 44 communicates with three bores 46, 47 and 48 located in the fmsto-conical portion 39 and being equally spaced therearound.

In operation, the tinting gun It) is first filled with the desired amount of tinting paste by setting the collar 15 to the appropriate scale marking and then operating the sleeve 13 upwardly while the bores 46, 47, and 48 are immersed within a container of the flowable paste material.

The upward movement of the piston 12 thereby fills the cylinder 19 as well as the axial bore 44, and the three bores 46, 47, and 48 with the paste, generally indicated at numeral 51 in FIGURE 2. Then, the tinting gun is placed over the container 23 in which the aerosol paint is disposed, with the annular seating face 26 abutting against the rim 27 of the container 28. In doing so, the fiat portion 41 of the protuberance 39 engages the abutment 42 on the valve member 36 and unseats the valve member 36 from against the gasket 37.

The aerosol does not escape from the container 28 in this operation because the protuberance 39 fits tightly within the gasket 37 and reestablishes the seal.

In the next step, the movable sleeve 13 is moved downwardly so that the paste 51 is forced through the axial bore 44 and the bores 46, 47, and 48 against the pressure existing within the aerosol container 28, and flows through the nipple 33 into the aerosol contained within the container 28. When the paste 51 has been injected, the protuberance 39 is disengaged from the gasket 37 so that the valve member 36 reseats itself against the gasket 37 and reestablishes the seal.

After injecting the coloring paste into the aerosol container, it is advisable to flush some clear solvent through the aerosol valve so that there will not be an excessive concentration of the tinting color in the spray issuing from the aerosol container 28 upon first use.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the adapter of the present invention makes it possible to conveniently and quickly inject controlled, metered amounts of a tinting material into an aerosol container. The entire operation is performed without leakage of the contents of the aerosol container.

It will be evident that various modifications can be made to the described embodiments Without departing from the scope of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

An adapter for injecting metered quantities of tinting material into a container containing an aerosol paint composition under pressure and having an upper peripheral rim and a centrally disposed depressible valve element, said adapter comprising a cylindrical body portion having a relieved annular portion arranged to fit snugly within a tubular dispensing means, said body portion also having an outwardly extending annular portion on the surface opposite said relieved annular portion proportioned to be seated on the rim of said container,

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,688,571 10/28 Zer-k 141-349 XR 2,684,805 7/5'4 McBean 141-20 XR 2,819,738 1/58 Marberg 222-95 XR 2,841,190 7/58 Scheck 141'-20 2,974,453 5/61 Meshberg 141--20 XR 3,013,591 12/61 Stanley. et al. 141-3 3,035,617 5/ 62 Breitenstein 141349 FOREIGN PATENTS 624,153 7/61 Canada.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Examiner. 

